


In Times of Strife

by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel



Series: Not Quite Fraternisation (The Longest Cold War) [3]
Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angels, Coulson is a BAMF, Darcy is a bamf, Dark Elves, Demons, Fallen Angels, Gen, Good Omens AU, Good Omens fusion, Heaven vs Hell, SPOILERS for Thor 2!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2013-11-04
Packaged: 2017-12-31 11:24:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1031127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel/pseuds/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Aether isn't a threat just to Earth, but to the entire universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Times of Strife

**Author's Note:**

> _I repeat, spoilers for Thor 2!_

* * *

After the battle of New York, Darcy returns to Tromso to find Jane in an irritable mood.

“Where have you been?” Jane exclaims. Darcy glances at the clock.

“Why are you still here, you should be sleeping,” Darcy scolds. “I was chatting to Agent iPod Thief. He of the black suit? Yeah.”

“For twelve hours?” Jane asks dubiously, raising a skeptical eyebrow. Darcy shrugs.

“There was a lot to catch up on.” She gives Jane a closer look. “What’s wrong? What happened while I was gone?”

She has a guess, of course, but…

“Thor was here.” 

Ring-a-ding-ding, that is the correct answer, give Darcy the prize! 

“Yeah, I saw the news,” Darcy lies. “Jane. Don’t worry. He’ll come back.”

“No.” Jane shakes her head sadly, looking resolved and betrayed. “He won’t. Thor was here, and then he just left again. No message, _nothing._ For the last year, every waking thought I had was of him. Of finding him. All the work I did, it was for nothing. So, that’s it. I’m done.”

“Jane…”

“No, Darcy. I can’t.” She meets Darcy’s eyes. “You understand?”

The thing is, demon or not, Darcy _does_ understand. 

“Yeah,” she says, wrapping an arm around Jane. “I understand. C’mon, you, me, some ice cream, right now, what do you say?”

“That sounds… okay,” says Jane, and lets Darcy lead her away.

* * *

_ One year later _

* * *

Darcy is standing with Jane and the new intern, dropping things into space, and watching them disappear only to reappear above their heads. She has to admit, even though she’s the only person here who understands exactly what’s going on, the effect is still pretty cool.

“Give me your shoe,” she demands of the intern. 

Jane is busy fussing over the readings her equipment is giving her, her interest moving onto the phenomenon itself rather than its cool effects. Darcy gives mental shrug, and continues dropping things into space, watching to see which things disappear forever and which things come back. Unlike the humans around her, Darcy can see the eddies in space time as the realms touch each other, and can predict which objects will return with perfect accuracy.

Darcy glances up just in time to see the intern throw something small and glittery with a Rubik’s Cube keyring attached into the space where the realms touch, just as they separate again for a moment.

“Were those the keys to the car?” she asks, just to make sure. The intern’s frozen grin makes it clear that yes, they were. Darcy sighs. “Great move, dumbass. _Now_ how are we supposed to get home?”

It takes a while for Darcy to notice that Jane has vanished, and she when she looks, Darcy can’t find her anywhere.

The chances are that Jane’s fallen into another realm. Darcy bites her lip in frustration. The problem is, she has no way of knowing where Jane has ended up, unless she herself checks every place where the realms touch.

With a huff, Darcy decides to give it a couple of hours, then call the police like any human would. If Jane is gone for more than a few hours, Darcy’s dropping her pretence of humanity and going looking for her.

“I’m sure she’s fine,” the intern says uneasily.

“Right, because that’s really going to reassure me,” Darcy mutters.

* * *

When Jane reappears it’s been five hours, and Darcy is genuinely starting to feel a little flustered. Her mood doesn’t improve when Jane is apparently unaware of how much time has passed. Darcy is about to tell her how seriously worrisome that is when Jane suddenly gapes, and Darcy turns to see Thor standing there.

Jane immediately strides towards him, and… the rain follows.

Darcy spreads her wings invisibly to hold the rain off and watches as Jane slaps Thor. Twice. Her eyes narrow, because there is definitely something wrong with Jane, some sort of energy…

Darcy hurries over, and Thor looks suddenly respectful as he sees her. One of the cops calls Jane over to talk before Darcy can ask her anything. Dammit.

Darcy looks at Thor.

“Is this you?” Darcy gestures at the rain. Thor glances around, like he hadn’t noticed it was raining, and the rain abruptly cuts off. Thor is still as muscley as ever, Darcy notes with appreciation, poking his midriff. Thor bears this with equanimity.

The sound of Jane sounding angry makes both of them turn, just in time to see one of the cops grab hold of her. The instant he does, everything turns to chaos.

Jane explodes with red and black energy that flings away everyone in close range.

Darcy freezes, because she recognises the tendrils of power slithering their way back to Jane.

“Oh, _crap_ ,” she says with feeling.

Now Thor is getting angry, and Darcy as Darcy watches he wraps an arm around Jane’s waist and raises his hammer.

Darcy sprints forward and throws herself at them just as the Bifrost opens. Darcy just clings to one of Thor’s massive biceps and holds on.

When they arrive in Asgard, Jane is laughing with the thrill of it, and announces that she definitely needs to try that again. Darcy rolls her eyes. Jane has just blasted a bunch of cops with some kind of unknown energy, and yet here she is giggling about travelling over the Bifrost instead of worrying about it. Actually, on second thought, that sounds just like Jane.

“Yo, Heimdall,” she calls out to the gatekeeper, “any idea if I can get cell phone reception out here? I need to call Feathers.”

Heimdall eyes her warily.

“I do not know,” he answers, carefully polite, which probably means that he knows _exactly_ who Darcy really is. After all, Heimdall is all-seeing, right?

“Darcy, who are you calling?” Jane asks in confusion, but Darcy ignores her in favour of dialling.

“Coulson,” says a voice on the other end, because magical demon powers.

“Hey, angel,” Darcy drawls. “Still babysitting your little team of misfits?”

“They’re not misfits, and I’m not their babysitter,” says Coulson.

“You keep telling yourself that,” Darcy recommends.

“How can you possibly have reception out here?” Jane wonders aloud. “We’re on _another world._ ”

“Listen, we’ve got a problem,” Darcy says into the phone, smirking a little at Jane’s bewilderment. “Like, a giant one. The Aether’s back, and it’s inside Jane.”

“ _What?_ ” Coulson asks sharply. “How?” 

“Beats me,” Darcy shrugs, glancing at Jane. “She did disappear for five hours in a place affected by the upcoming convergence, though, so I’m guessing she wandered off into another realm by mistake and saw something interesting and had to touch it.”

Coulson makes a noise that suggests he wants to strangle all humans who can’t keep their hands to themselves.

“Now I’m in Asgard, BTW,” Darcy adds helpfully, “because Thor showed up and whisked her away, I’m guessing so he could find out why Jane can suddenly blast people.”

There is a heavy silence.

“I’m in the middle of something right now, but I’ll join you as soon as I can,” Coulson says finally. “Try to resist the urge to make things worse.”

“I’m flattered that you think I can actually make this worse,” Darcy tells him, genuinely pleased. “But okay, I’ll do my best not to be evil and all.”

“Good,” said Coulson. “Update me if the situation changes.” He hangs up.

“Lady Darcy,” says Thor. “You were talking to your counterpart?”

“What? What counterpart?” Jane asks.

“Yup,” replies Darcy. “He’ll be here as soon as possible.” She glances at Jane. He friend’s life energy is lower than it was earlier. “You’re going to take Jane to your healers, right?” 

“Yes,” says Thor seriously. “I thought it best.”

* * *

It turns out that the healers don’t seem to know how to remove the Aether from Jane, which is a bummer. Of course, they don’t seem to know what it is – just that it’s some form of energy, completely ignorant of the fact that it’s a slice of the primordial darkness, from back before the Big Guy said ‘let there be light.’ The problem is, Darcy doesn’t know how to remove it either, not without doing Jane harm. Hopefully Coulson will.

It’s at this point that Thor’s dad comes storming in, all angry disapproval at the fact that Thor brought – gasp – _mortals_ to Asgard.

“But Father, she is sick,” Thor tries to explain, but Odin clearly isn’t in a listening mood. He continues on about how all mortals get sick and die, or whatever, completely ignoring Thor’s attempts to explain that this is not a normal illness, and Darcy decides she’s had enough.

“She’s possessed by _the Aether_ , asshole!” Darcy snarls. The entire room freezes at the insult. “Which you’d know, if you bothered to listen for even one second!”

Odin strides over in fury.

“Who are you, to speak to me thus?” he bellows in Darcy’s face.

Darcy smiles, sharp and serpentine, and lets her sunglasses slide down her nose.

Odin looks marginally taken-aback by the sight of Darcy’s snakelike eyes, and Darcy leans forward, smiling dangerously.

“I’m the _Ssserpent_ ,” she purrs, hissing the sibilant syllables. “Temptation and trickery in one fabulouss package. I’m ancient and powerful even by your sstandards, and I’m the one Hell put in charge of dealing with threatss to Earth. And the Aether? Definitely countsss.”

“I thought you promised to try not to make things worse?” asks a familiar voice. Darcy turns to grin at Coulson. No one else had noticed his arrival until he spoke.

Coulson turns to Odin.

“I’m what your people know as a Celestial Sentinel,” he says seriously. “I am the representative of Heaven placed in charge of protecting the Earth. And I agree – the Aether is a threat to Earth, and to the universe at large.”

Odin looks stunned, and not in a good way.

“She truly holds the Aether?” he asks quietly, all his bluster gone.

“Yes,” Coulson confirmed gravely.

“Will someone please explain what’s going on?” Jane asks plaintively from the examination table.

“I concur,” Thor put in. “Father, what is the Aether, and how do we remove it from Jane?”

Odin simply sighed, looking weary and old.

“Come with me.”

* * *

“So, Dark Elves,” Darcy says to Coulson, while Thor and Jane and Odin are off reading up on the Aether. Jane, when she left, still looked stunned at the revelation that Darcy is a demon and Coulson is an angel. “It’s been a while since I had to face any. You?”

Coulson looks at her.

“You really think some of them survived?”

Darcy stares at him pointedly.

“You’re probably right,” Coulson concedes. Then: “A while for me, too.”

“The Dude Downstairs isn’t going to be pleased about this, you know,” Darcy comments idly, because it’s true. “It was a lot of work for him, turning on the stars and stuff.”

“Believe it or not, I don’t want to hear about the Lightbringer’s feelings,” Coulson says dryly. “And he isn’t the only one. I can’t imagine my superiors will be pleased by my report.”

“Wait, you’ve reported in already?” Darcy squeals in alarm. The last thing she needs is to end up facing off against hostile angels.

“Of course,” Coulson replies calmly.

Darcy hisses at him.

“Oh my God I hate you, you rat fink angel. Like they’re not going to send a unit down here as back up, or something, _you sssuck so much_.”

“I did make a note that you were cooperating with me on this one,” Coulson offers.

“You _what?_ ” Darcy shrieks. “Like I want a reputation as ssome kind of - of _do-gooder!_ I can’t believe you!”

She stalks off and leaves him alone, genuinely furious.

Ten minutes and an angry walk later and Darcy is still fuming a little, when her attention is caught by the sight of Asgardian guards running past her. Out of curiosity and an instinct for trouble, Darcy follows them, making herself unseen as she walks.

There appears to be a break-out in the prison cells beneath the palace. Darcy watches for a moment, enjoying the chaos, before she delivers a low-level smiting.

When the flash of light dies away, the escaped prisoners are lying there, looking dazed, but there’s one guy at the far end of the room screaming in agony.

Smirking like the cat that’s got the cream, Darcy strides down the length of the room until she’s standing by the side of the screaming man. Grinning, Darcy leans down a little.

“Well, what have we here?” she coos. “One of the Kursed, huh? What are _you_ doing here?”

The Kursed bites back further sounds of pain and refuses to respond. 

Darcy has seen Kursed beings before: Dark Elves, hosting a tiny fragment of the Aether, using it to better their fighting abilities until it consumes their entire life force.

Unfortunately for this guy, angels – even fallen ones like Darcy – are beings of light far greater than the tiny piece of the Aether he carries.

“Don’t want to talk, huh?” Darcy asks. “That’s okay, I didn’t actually care about your answer, anyway.”

Beginning to glow, she reaches down to touch the Kursed’s face. He starts screaming again as Darcy’s power encompasses him, destroying the tiny speck of primordial darkness he holds. When Darcy is done, there’s nothing left of him but ashes.

Darcy straightens, and feeling eyes on her that don’t belong to the awed and frightened guards, turns to see Loki staring at her from where he sits inside his cell. His face is unreadable.

Darcy strolls closer, until they can see eye to eye, or close enough. 

“I guess he didn’t feel like setting you loose, huh?”

“Apparently not,” Loki responds, watching her with carefully-concealed wariness. “I don’t suppose you care to tell me what brings you to Asgard?”

Darcy shrugs.

“Oh, you know, the potential destruction of all light and life in the universe. Freaking Ae–”

The entire building shakes.

“Oh, what _now?_ ” Darcy whines, and relocates herself.

She arrives in one of Asgard’s many halls in time to see a bunch of Dark Elves killing the last guard standing.

“Oh, that is _it!_ ” Darcy shouts. Her wings unfold behind her and she lets the angry glow beneath her skin build up until all of a sudden she lets it go – 

\- and it’s like a very small star has exploded in the confined space.

When the light fades, Darcy is the only one left standing.

There’s a slight noise behind her, and Darcy turns to see Jane, Odin, and Thor staring at her with pale faces, as well as some older yet attractive lady Darcy is willing to bet is Thor’s mom, but standing in front of all of them is Coulson and a being that Darcy instantly recognises as Remiel.

“Oh _shit_ ,” says Darcy, because there is a _frigging_ _archangel_ standing in front of her, and she really, really doesn’t want to be smited today.

“Fear not,” says Remiel. “Zadok has informed me that you are here in order to assist with protecting the universe.”

“Uh, yeah,” says Darcy. “I mean, come on, we exist in this universe, it’d kind of suck if someone hit the reset button. Like, think of how much time it took my boss to light all the stars? You think he wants to go through that again? Please.”

Remiel gives Darcy a look of deep disapproval that is like the wind beneath her wings, now that she knows she isn’t going to get smote.

“Can you remove the Aether?” asks Coulson – _Zadok,_ and wow, doesn’t that name fit? Darcy should have known his name meant ‘just’, because now she thinks about it, Coulson totally _is_.

Remiel surveys Jane.

“Yes,” he says at last. He glances back at Coulson. “Deal with the Dark Elves.”

Coulson inclines his head in obedience, which is weird, because Darcy is used to seeing him give orders, not receiving them.

“Call me if you need help,” Darcy tells him, right before he vanishes, because she wouldn’t mind fighting a bunch of Dark Elves right now.

When she turns around, the others have gone, and with an annoyed grumble, Darcy hurries after them.

* * *

Removing the Aether is a careful process that, honestly, looks kind of painful for Jane. When Remiel is half-way through, a scarred Dark Elf walks in, heading straight for the Aether. Darcy waits until Thor and Odin have distracted him by engaging him in battle, and then smites him with great joy.

After that, it’s quiet but for the distant sound of Dark Elf ships being exploded or vaporised by Coulson, as they wait for Remiel to finish drawing the Aether out of Jane.

Coulson silently joins them after a while, still faintly glowing, and Darcy raised an eyebrow at him. He nods, and Darcy smirks in satisfaction.

Finally, Remiel stands holding the Aether as it writhes and twists in his hands. Jane hurries to Thor, who pulls her protectively into his arms. Odin gives them both the side-eye, but Thor’s mom nudges him in the side with a meaningful look, and he frowns, but looks back at Remiel.

“You guys should probably leave the room, just in case,” Darcy advises them, and reluctantly, they do, although Odin doesn’t look happy about it. Probably the only thing stopping him from going all blustery like earlier is that the Aesir are nothing next to angels and demons, and he knows it.

“Can it be destroyed?” Coulson asks, as Remiel stares at the Aether with concentration.

Remiel shakes his head slowly.

“Nothing in Heaven can destroy it, not this much of the primordial darkness. Our light is not enough. There is only one whose light is enough to overwhelm the darkness of the Aether,” says Remiel, scowling.

It takes Darcy a minute to get it, but then she starts laughing hysterically, because this is just _too good._

“Oh my God! You want my _boss’s_ help?” She howls with laughter.

“Are you sure about this?” Coulson murmurs to Remiel.

“There is no other option,” Remiel says darkly. “The Aether is too dangerous to be allowed to continue to exist, and the Lightbringer is the only one capable of destroying it.”

“Oh man, this is great,” Darcy snickers. “Okay, give me a second to do the ritual, and I’ll call him for you.”

Still feeling terribly amused, Darcy produces a magic marker from her coat pocket and begins scrawling symbols across the marble floor. It takes her a couple of minutes, and then, using voice that makes the ground shake and the walls tremble, she speaks a single word.

A bright glow surrounds the symbols Darcy had written, and the next moment, a blindingly bright figure with radiant golden curls and six pairs of brilliant wings is standing in front of her.

“Hey, bro!” Darcy calls out, because if she started showing respect _now_ he’d just wonder what she was up to. 

“Do not call me bro!” the shining figure thunders. “What is it you have called me for, you appalling thorn in my side?”

“Well,” says Darcy, grinning hugely, “the angels kind of need your help.” She gestures at Remiel and Coulson.

Her boss’s mood instantly changes as he sees Remiel’s displeased expression and Coulson’s carefully bland one. He begins to chuckle.

“Is this true?” he asks, smiling with devious amusement. Remiel frowns at him instead of answering, and the chuckles give way to delighted laughter. “Oh, it is! Well, by all means, Remiel, request my assistance.”

Darcy’s boss makes a show of listening earnestly. Remiel scowls again.

“It’s the Aether, boss,” Darcy explains, since Remiel looks like he’d rather stab himself in the face than explain. “A bunch of Dark Elves wanted to resurrect the primordial darkness with it. They were stopped, but the angels believe that the Aether needs to be properly destroyed, and no one but you can do it.”

“I see.” Lucifer looks immensely amused. “The irony. Oh, how it must burn you to ask for my help, Remiel!”

“Must you gloat?” Remiel snaps.

“Yes,” nods Lucifer. “I truly must.”

“Very well.” Remiel composes himself. “Will you do us the favour of destroying the Aether?”

Lucifer puts a hand to his chin and considers the question carefully.

Darcy is outright giggling by now.

“Fine,” Lucifer says condescendingly, when Remiel’s composure starts to look like it’s taking a lot of effort. “Give me the Aether.”

Reluctantly, Remiel hands it over.

Lucifer’s brightness increases to the point where even Darcy has trouble looking at him, and the marble floor begins to bubble. There is a final flash of light, and when it disperses, Lucifer’s hands are empty. He looks pleased with himself.

“There,” he says smugly. “It is done.”

“You have our thanks,” says Remiel, only a little sourly. 

Lucifer turns to Darcy and smiles at her. It’s a beautiful expression, and now that he’s in a pleasant mood the sight of him is enchanting. Darcy knows better than to think it will last long, but she grins back.

“Well done, my Serpent,” her boss says approvingly.

“Thanks, boss,” says Darcy, and Lucifer disappears, back to doing whatever he usually does.

Darcy’s grin vanishes as she sees the way Remiel is looking at her.

“I’ll just leave you two to sort out… whatever needs sorting,” Darcy tells the angels, and exits the room hastily.

* * *

In the end, Thor has a long discussion with his father about Jane and kingship and stuff (Darcy might have kind of eavesdropped), farewells his mother, and heads back to Earth with Darcy and Jane.

When the Bifrost drops them back on Earth, it’s the middle of the night, and there’s no sign of the intern.

“Hey, Jane,” Darcy tugs on Jane’s jacket to get her attention when Jane is too busy staring into Thor’s eyes, “do you reckon the intern got arrested when we left?”

 

END  
 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ETA:   
> *sighs* Guys, Zadok is a Hebrew name meaning 'just', okay? I now realise that the same word has a very different meaning in other languages, but you can stop leaving comments telling me that it means 'butt' in Slovakian.


End file.
